(Headline USA) Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel reportedly sold off millions of dollars of his shares in the company following a turbulent market decline that pushed the COVID-19 vaccine maker’s stock to its lowest level in nearly a year.
Bancel also deleted his rarely-used personal Twitter account this month in preparation for “bad news,” said attorney Thomas Renz.
“I think he’s absolutely on the run,” Renz said during an interview.
“I think a lot of these guys are. You know, one of the things that’s interesting – Pfizer made some really interesting structural changes here and there since these vaccines came out,” Renz said.
“We’re seeing a lot of structural changes in these companies,” he said, “My guess is what they’re trying to do is use different companies to shield themselves from liability.”
Moderna’s stock fell as much as 13% on Monday to less than $140, triggering a massive sell-off among insiders. Regulatory filings released on Friday show that four Moderna executives, including Bancel, sold a combined 23,281 shares
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer’s shares also tanked by 2% after it warned in its fourth-quarter earnings report that vaccine sales will slow down this year. The report also showed that COVID-19 vaccines made up 53% of the firm’s fourth-quarter revenue.
Executives in both Moderna and Pfizer have openly acknowledged that COVID-19 vaccines won’t be a sustainable revenue stream in years to come, as COVID-19 restrictions end and positive cases wane.
The effectiveness of the vaccines themselves has also been called into question. A study released on Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that Moderna and Pfizer’s booster shots lost substantial effectiveness after less than four months.
Renz has been investigating the effects of the COVID-19 vaccines for the past year. He recently unveiled a number of Defense Department-stamped documents that showed 60% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients during the delta variant surge were fully vaccinated.
The documents also revealed that government officials believe “prior COVID-19 infection has a major protective effect against breakthrough hospitalization,” meaning, natural immunity is superior to vaccination.
